"Turquoise Hill"), is a combined open pit and underground mining project in Khanbogd sum within the south Gobi Desert, approximately 235 kilometres (146 mi) east of the Ömnögovi Province capital Dalanzadgad.

The site was discovered in 2001 and is being developed as a joint venture between Turquoise Hill Resources (a majority owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto) with 66% ownership and the Government of Mongolia with 34%.

[1] The Oyu Tolgoi mining project is the largest financial undertaking in Mongolia's history and is expected upon completion to produce 450,000 tonnes (500,000 short tons) of copper annually.

Financing for the project has come in part from the Rio Tinto Group and an investment agreement between Ivanhoe Mines and the government of Mongolia.

[2] In 2001, Canadian-based Ivanhoe Mines estimated the resource gold-copper ore deposit in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, which Soviets had discovered officially before 1990.

It is in an area known as Oyu Tolgoi (Mongolian for Turquoise Hill),[3] where in the time of Genghis Khan outcropping rocks were smelted for copper.

[9] In January 2022, Rio Tinto reached an agreement with the government to move the joint Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project forward and resolve outstanding issues.

They urge the company to develop a strong, detailed, long-term species conservation and habitat protection plan, including a rigorous monitoring strategy.

They were forced to move to inferior locations without adequate time to select spots that would protect their animals from harsh winter storms.

Building an economy on minerals puts country at risk of Dutch disease, or the relationship between the increase in the economic development of natural resources and a decline in the manufacturing sector or agriculture.

[30][31] Although Mongolia’s economic growth has helped to reduce poverty by more than 11 % in recent years, there is also a rising inequality in terms of income distribution.

[32] Gantömöriin Uyanga, an MP has announced that former PM Sanjaagiin Bayar, who signed the OT Investment Agreement with 3 of its Cabinet Members, owns 7 properties abroad on the names of his daughters, ex-wife, and girlfriend worth of several billion dollars.

His request reads: "Recently media coverage on possible money laundering through purchase of number of real estates abroad with the sources stating that I, Bayar Sanjaa, have abused my position as Prime Minister and lobbied the approval of the Oyutolgoi Agreement.

[33][failed verification][citation needed] Also Sangijav Bayartsogt, the former Deputy Speaker of Parliament and one of the 3 ministers who signed the OT agreement has had his secret offshore account revealed by "The Guardian", a British Newspaper.

According to the report the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Sangijav Bayartsogt, confirmed having a secret Swiss bank account containing more than one million US dollars, in the name of an offshore entity "Legend Plus Capital Limited".

[1] The agreement includes a secret clause that Rio Tinto pays $20 million to Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi for “business integrity resolution.” These payments are under investigation by Anti-Corruption NGOs, including Transparency International Mongolia, as deemed highly likely to be bribery payments to senior officials in Mongolian government.